The Dragon Wars
by YoungWriter20
Summary: After Hiccup vanishes, Astrid secretly trains Stormfly for a year, then gets the others to follow her. 5 years after Hiccup vanished, two dragons appear above the island, fighting, as Astrid is doing her patrol of the island. Berk is now forced to confront the coming wars...The Dragon Wars. Not mine. All rights still belong to Cressida Cowell and DreamWorks Animation Studios.
1. Prologue: An Unsuspecting Lot

_Clang! Clang! Clang!_

The rhythmic pounding of iron could be heard from around the island of Berk. Closer to the forge though, you could hear the sounds of pumping bellows and the hiss of metal as it cooled. A lean, 15-year-old brunet, wearing only his trousers, scrambled around to the various stations, trying to keep all the various projects on track. An older man, who was missing an arm and a leg, watched as his young apprentice was almost making the blacksmith work single handedly. Almost being the key word. The older man's name was Gobber, and he chuckled at the sight of Hiccup bustling around the smithy. He had taught every trick he knew about metal work, carpentry, and leather working to this boy. Hiccup, was the boy's name. And though he didn't look it, he could handle many of the weapons inside the show with much more ease than he usually let on. Gobber knew that Hiccup's concern if he showed his real strength, he would be treated differently, and while Hiccup didn't like how he was being treated now, at least people were honest with him. Gobber moved in to work on a hatchet that a family wanted their youngest son, Gustav, to practice with.

Picking up a long sword, Hiccup maneuvered it to a display rack, before rushing back to the war axe that he had been working on. Gobber heard movement outside and went around to the front to see who it was. As he had expected, the owner of the battle-axe was coming back. "Hiccup, delivery time!", He called into the store. Hiccup, understanding the signal, immediately went into making it seem as if his body was struggling to hold the axe upright, and put his shirt back on to hide his muscles.

"Hello A-Astrid." Hiccup said, timidly welcoming the young lady who entered the shop. She was also 15, lean, with a unique skirt that had spikes all over it and a belt made of small, metal skulls. Hiccup had never understood the purpose of it. She moved forward and grabbed the battle-axe from his hand, without a word of thanks. Twirling it in her hand, she swung it around, liking the balanced feel of it.

"Thanks again, Gobber. You always know how to make my axe seem new again." Astrid complimented, ignoring Hiccup, whose shoulders deflated slightly at the compliment directed towards the older blacksmith. Gobber noticed this, but kept up the charade. "Anytime, Astrid. You're our most frequent customer." She jogged back out, and Hiccup's face fell. Another day, another lie he had to tell. Hiccup detested lying, but he knew that some lies were necessary evils."Don't worry." Gobber told him, moving to work on one of the other projects, "She'll come around and see you as you are, one day...I think."

Hiccup spent the rest of the day inside the forge, hammering out imperfections in weapons and armor, keeping the forge's fire going, and generally helping out. As night fell on the island of Berk, Hiccup returned to his house, not knowing that the next few months would change his life…

**A/N: This is only the beginning to this story. It is an AU. If you don't like that, stop reading. Please review and give feedback. If you would like to suggest things, please do. This is my first story and I want to make it entertaining for everyone. This is YoungWriter20, signing off.**


	2. The Raid

Hiccup was racing through the village, followed by calls of, "What are you doing out?", and, "Get inside." He had often been out during the dragon raids, and he had an unfortunate streak of bad luck. No matter what he tried to do, it always seemed to backfire. Like the time he tried to hold a dragon down, and almost got carried off. The time that he tried to put out a fire and ended up starting more fires. And many, _many_ other mistake he had made over the years. Suddenly he was pulled back and out of danger. The one who had saved him was an enormous Viking, with a huge beard and wearing a fur cape and a scaled type of armor. The Viking's name is Stoick the Vast, and he is the Chief of Berk. He also appeared to be annoyed that Hiccup was outside. "Who let him out, what are you doing? Get inside!" Stoick says, shoving him towards the forge.

As Hiccup rushed into the forge, Gobber called, "Oh, so you finally decided to show up. I thought that you'd been carried off."

"Who, me?" Hiccup counters, smirking at the verbal jab, "No, I'm _way_ too muscular for their tastes. They wouldn't know what to do with all this…" He gestures down towards his chest, accentuating a barely-visible physique.

"Well, they need toothpicks, don't they?" Gobber countered, as he hurriedly tried to reshape a bent sword. Hiccup opened the front window of the shop and had a supply of bent and twisted weapons plopped down onto the counter as he could hear the people in front, calling out, "Quickly! Quickly!" Picking up the mangled tools, Hiccup carried them over to the forging area and then proceeded to work the bellows to start the fire back up and heat the metal so it was malleable.

"C'mon. Hurry." Hiccup heard Astrid call. Looking out the window, he saw Astrid working with four other teens to put out the fires. One was tall, but very broad with a thick arms and large hands. He was wearing a brown fur shirt. This is Fishlegs, the resident dragon nerd. He could tell you everything you ever wanted to know about a type of dragon, and then some things you didn't want to know.

Another was shorter than the rest, but he was also broad, with large biceps and hands, while he wore a dirty shirt, underneath a black vest. This is Snotlout, the most boastful Viking you will ever meet. Hiccup swore that Snotlout was only in love with himself a little less than he kept trying to impress Astrid, which didn't make Hiccup feel any better. Snotlout was his cousin, and had been tormenting Hiccup since before he could walk. Hiccup had very quickly learned to take it and not utter a sound.

The other two were twins, one male and one female. Both were tall and lanky, in contrast to the others. Both had almost matching helmets and intelligence levels. Both also had a penchant for causing trouble, much different from Hiccup, who wanted to help but ended up with trouble. Amazingly, they were actually helping everyone else put out the fires. Hiccup was slightly confused as to why they were doing as they were ordered, but shrugged it off as he went staring back at Astrid.

He had loved her for the longest time. She was perfect, and he didn't know how to say it to her. Besides, with how she had treated him since they met, he was pretty sure that she would never like him back. They had met when they were much, much younger and they had seemed to get along very well. That was, until the Flightmare attacked the village and killed her Uncle. After that, she seemed to carry an incredible hatred of any and all dragons and an intense desire to revenge herself on them. Hiccup hadn't liked that she had stopped talking to him, but it was something that he had at least partially understood. Dragons had killed his own mother, after all.

He knew that in order to even get noticed by Astrid, he would have to kill a dragon. The number and quality of dragons you killed stood as you rank in society. Stoick was the chief and had been declared so because he had killed many dragons, several Deadly Nadders, several Gronkles, a few Zipplebacks, and a couple Monstrous Nightmares.

Drawing himself out from his reverie, he saw Gobber attaching his axe-hand to the stump where his other hand used to be. "Guard the stall, Hiccup. They need me out there." Hiccup looked Gobber up and down, clearly signaling that they must be desperate if whole, adult Vikings were asking for aid from one of their injured comrades. "Stay. In. The. Stall." Gobber stated, emphasizing each word with a poke to the chest, "We don't want you getting hurt." Gobber charged away, shouting a Viking war cry. Waiting until he could no longer see Gobber, Hiccup went into the back and took up a small invention he had been working on.

Rushing to the nearby cliffs, Hiccup took up position, wanting to take down the "untouchable" Night Fury. Setting it down and securing the spikes in place, he reached up to a handle by the side and pulled, bringing up a large crossbow looking contraption. Pulling back the drawstring and locking it in place, he pulled back and looked through the small aiming reticule he had installed, he scanned the skies for the elusive shadow of the beast that would be his repayment for all his mistakes and mishaps. Hearing the telltale shriek of the Night Fury and seeing the elusive shadow for a fraction of a second, he looked down the iron sights and followed it's silhouette, before firing a bola at it. A second later, he heard a telltale shriek, confirmation that the Night Fury had been hit. In the dim, morning light, Hiccup could just barely make out the outline of the beast as it disappeared into the trees.

"Yes! Yes! I did it! Did anyone just see that?" Hiccup whooped, elated at his apparent luck here. However his celebration was cut short by the appearance of a Monstrous Nightmare, that climbed over the edge of the cliff and crushed his invention beneath his enormous feet. "Oh, come on. That was the only one." Hiccup whined, before taking off towards town. Dodging left and right to avoid jets of fire, Hiccup found rocks to hide behind. He saw the dragon pass him and he waited praying that it would not find him. However his luck didn't hold out and the dragon spotted him. Opening it's mouth, showing the fire that was about to roast him. Hiccup waited, planning on jumping out of the way. But the fire never came, as a blur hit the Monstrous Nightmare on itds snout. Stoick rolls to a stop, before popping to his feet, ready to keep pounding the beast into submission. The Monstrous Nightmare rears back, ready to roast Stoick. What came out was only small enough to fry a fish on. The dragon cowered as Stoick advanced, before it was waylaid with an assortment of punishing hits, before it flew away, empty-handed.

Turning back to Hiccup, Stoick looked down, radiating disappointment. Hiccup looked around, seeing the village still on fire, 3 houses burned badly, and 4 houses still on fire. Other houses were also on fire from the chase between Hiccup and the Dragon. Hiccup looked down, before muttering "Okay but I hit a Night Fury."

Stoick grabbed Hiccup's arm and started walking him home. "I really did hit a Night Fury. It fell down off of Raven's point. If you would ju-"

"Stop! Just…stop. I have an entire village to feed. Winter is drawing near and I have an entire village to feed. Make sure he gets back to the house." Stoick motions to Gobber.

"Why does he hate me so much?" Hiccup asked as they got to his house.

"You got this all wrong. It isn't how your look, it's what's up here that he can't stand." Gobber motioned to Hiccup's head.

"I just want to be one of you guys." Hiccup said, as he retreated into his house.

**A/N: That is chapter 2. I don't know if you like it. Please review and tell me if you would like to see anything. Next time...Dragon Training!**


	3. Discovery

"Why do the gods hate me? Some people lose an axe or a knife. But no, I have to lose a whole dragon." Hiccup had been looking for the dragon for hours, after sneaking out the back of the house. Seriously, Gobber visits once a week to have dinner with them and he still didn't know about the back door? He had been checking every possible inch of Raven's Point. And he hadn't even found one scale of a dragon that should have gone down over here. Frustrated, he trudged down a path, not looking where he was going. Swatting a tree branch out of his face, Hiccup stews in his own frustration, as he ponders what…

_Whack!_

"Ow!" Hiccup cried, looking for what hit him. Seeing the branch he had just attacked, his ever-curious eyes followed the branch, looking for the tree that he wanted to take his anger out on. Anger turned to confusion, turned to shock, as Hiccup say said tree was already smashed, the trunk barely hanging together, with a huge furrow in the ground, like something really heavy had been dragged there…or something that had fallen from a great height and skidded along the ground. The Night Fury!

More terrified than brave, Hiccup edged closer and closer to the end, picking up a couple Night Fury scales, things to show his father, to prove his "warrior spirit". Looking over the edge of the hill, Hiccup say the Night Fury. Terrified that it would attack, Hiccup ducked back down, waiting for the blast and he was greeted with…nothing. Weird, dragons were incredibly hostile towards everything, except each other. Why had it not fired? Hiccup raised his head just above the top of the hill again, checking the clearing. The Night Fury was right there, its legs and wings caught in the bola. Hiccup decided to look closer, and saw a strange substance on the ground. His body moved faster than his rational mind, and he dipped his hands into it. Upon touching it, Hiccup knew what it was. _Night Fury blood._ The force of impact and friction from the ground must have torn up its side. But that didn't register in Hiccup's mind just yet.

"It's right here. Yes, Thank Thor! This fixes everything!" Hiccup could not believe his good fortune. Suddenly, the legs started moving. Terrified, Hiccup backpedaled, holding his knife in front of him, as if it would repel it. However, the dragon did not rise. Hiccup advanced again, to see the large eye open, showing a green sclera with a slit pupil. "I'm gonna kill you, Dragon." Hiccup told the dragon, pulling out his dagger. "I'll cut out your black heart and bring it to my father. I am a Viking. I AM A VIKING!"

Hiccup raised the dagger over his head, preparing to plunge it into the soft underbelly of the beast. His left eye opened looking at the dragon. The eye Hiccup saw, didn't hold resentment, or anger. It was scared, terrified…of him. Hiccup snapped out of his stupor. He had shot down a Night Fury. He had hurt another creature. He had spilt its blood. When on hunting trips with his day, Hiccup never liked hunting. He had always resented hurting other beings, no matter what they had done to him.

"I did this." He muttered, sick to his stomach. No one deserved to have this done to them. Hiccup turned to leave, when he heard a whimper and heavy breathing. Turning back to the dragon, he made a split second decision. He cut the ropes that bound the dragon, and no sooner had he split the ropes that the dragon jumped on him, pinning him underneath it's powerful feet. Now, its eyes blazed with anger and hatred. It reared back and Hiccup prepared for the worst…

_RROOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAARR_

The dragon roared in Hiccup's ear, letting out all its frustration out in one, loud scream. The dragon was so close to Hiccup that his head was ringing with the sound, engraving it into his memory. Looking up, his head still ringing, Hiccup saw that the dragon had left.

Later that night, after putting in some hours in the forge, Hiccup opened his front door as quietly as possible, not wanting to talk to his father after today's realization. But his father's keen hearing was not simply a story, as Stoick called to him, when Hiccup was halfway up the stairs. "Hiccup, there is something I want to talk to you about." Grudgingly, Hiccup went back down the stairs to stand in front of his father. Stoick sighed heavily, before uttering the words that Hiccup had never expected to hear.

"You get your wish. Dragon training. You start in the morning."

Hiccup almost blanched. That was the last thing he wanted to hear. How was he supposed to go through this training to kill dragons when he couldn't bring himself to kill one when it is helpless? "Yeah, Dad, about that. I've been thinking." Hiccup said, trying to think up an argument, and he sees that Stoick is rolling his eyes, like he always does when Hiccup says those three words. "Maybe I should just stick to being a blacksmith? Take after the shop while Gobber is- Oof!" Hiccup grunted as the axe was thrust into his arms.

"This is serious, son." Stoick demanded, in a tone that told Hiccup this was going to go one way and only one way.

"You are my son. This is what you have to do. Don't disappoint me this time. Now, train hard. I'll be back. Hopefully."

Looking back up curiously, Hiccup asked, "Where are you going?"

"Another expedition to find the Dragon's Nest."

Hiccup hung his head. There were always less Vikings that came back from those trips. As much as his father annoyed him, Hiccup was scared that this time, his father wouldn't come back. "Alright. I'll see-" looking back up, he saw his father had left, "You. Later. I guess."

The next morning, Hiccup woke to a pounding on the front door. Waking up and trudging down stairs, he opened the door to reveal Gobber. "C'mon, the others are waiting. We should get going."

"Can't I just cover the stall?"

Gobber gave him a look that clear expressed _No-you-cannot-just-cover-the-stall_. Reluctantly, Hiccup went with Gobber, eventually just trailing behind him. Hoisting open the gate, Gobber turned the to the teens explained, "Welcome to Dragon Training. You have all been selected to undertake this training so that you may help fend off or, preferably, kill the dragons." Hiccup's stomach twisted at the thought. "Now, line up so I can begin the first lesson."

As they all lined up, Snotlout noticed that Hiccup had joined them. "Why the Hel is he here?"

"Because he wants to kill dragons, same as you." Gobber replied, knocking Snotlout in the head with his mace-hand. "Now, let's see who knows their dragons. Fishlegs, tell me the features of a Gronkle."

"Sporting an abnormally thick skin, the Gronkle will try to charge at their enemies or use their ability to shoot balls of magma at their opponents." Fishlegs listed off, as if he had memorized the Book of Dragons. Hiccup believed this was all too probable.

"Good. At least one of you knows, so let's get to it." Gobber flipped a release lever, opening the large gate nearby and releasing a Gronkle into their midst. Snotlout, Fishlegs, and the twins immediately ran away. Hiccup, who was not expecting this was not fast enough to run away and had to dodge by falling backwards, while Astrid simply side-stepped the flying beast. Running into the wall, the Gronkle crumpled to the floor, however it quickly recovered and scooped a couple rocks in it's mouth, before hovering again, coming in a little slower, looking to see which it could kill. By now, everyone had recovered from their initial shock. Everyone had grabbed shields except for Hiccup. He didn't know why he hadn't gotten a shield, he just thought he had to prove himself. Charging the beast, he saw it turning. Thinking that he had an opening, he charged in, hoping to be able to find a way to attack the dragon without harming it. This left him blind to the dragon's mace-like tail, which knocked into his arm and side, sending him flying…right into Astrid, who was trying to attack at the same time. They collided and fell down, with Hiccup on top.

"Hiccup!" Gobber called from behind them, and Hiccup was prepared for some kind of reprimand from Gobber, after Astrid kicked his ass. Looking back, he saw instead that the dragon's mouth was open and glowing, like the dragon was about to…

Some deep instinct awoke in Hiccup. Time slowed to a crawl and he became hyperaware of his surroundings. He pushed Astrid out of the line of fire as he himself dodged to the side, the flaming rock struck the ground just centimeters away from Hiccup. Rolling to his feet, Hiccup was greeted with the dragon charging at him. He couldn't move this time, the rush of energy wasn't there. Suddenly, Gobber's hook hand came out of nowhere and pulled the Gronkle into the wall, stunning it enough for Gobber to throw it back into its cage.

"Remember, a dragon will always, _always_ go for the kill. That is enough to wet your whistles for today. Same time tomorrow."

**A/N: Sorry for the long time between updates. Trying to do this, find a couple jobs, work around with 20 billion other things right now. Please review. It helps me think of new ideas for this that might be cool. You guys are Awesome! YW20, Signing out.**


	4. Training

Hiccup walked through the forest, wanting to get away from the village. He scowled, kicking at a clump of grass. Even if his father wasn't there, he still didn't feel like he belong at Berk at times. He didn't understand why he was so small compared to everyone else. He didn't see why they were so set in their ways, completely unable to listen to any sort of outside perspective. It was infuriating!

For a few minutes, Hiccup seriously considered just leaving the village, taking a boat and sailing away to see what awaited him across the sea. But…here is all that he had ever known. He knew that if he couldn't make it in his own hometown, there would be no chance of survival in another land.

There was something else, keeping him around. He was looking for the Night Fury. Something that Gobber had said didn't feel right. The blacksmith had said that dragons would kill, without hesitation or remorse, with a cold glint in his eye that spoke of a man who knew far too much about something he wished he never had to deal with. However, the Night Fury had not killed him, even with enough of a reason to do so. Hiccup was beginning to wonder if Gobber was right, if the assumption about all dragons being ruthless killers was indeed true or not. True, he had seen enough in his short life to agree with those statements. He had certainly heard enough from everyone he grew up with. But still…there was always the chance to find out something new.

Pondering his current situation, he was shaken from his reverie when he heard a roar nearby. He felt an instinctual quake in his legs, the adrenaline now coursing through his body triggering a primal reaction to save himself. Hiccup dove behind a rock, pressing himself tightly against it in hopes of remaining hidden.

But, after a few moments, he heard another sound, coming from a bit further away. Knowing that nothing was coming for him, Hiccup's natural curiosity was piqued, and he poked his head up. He clambered forwards until he found a break in the rocks, peeking down through a small gap.  
>What he saw surprised him more than anything. The Night Fury had found itself trapped in a cove, a natural pit surrounded on all sides by steep rock faces. Most of the basin was filled by a pond, and the little land that was not underwater was dotted with trees and fallen boulders. Hiccup's eyes widened as he saw the dragon trying time and time again to launch itself into the air and escape its prison, only to find itself plummeting back down to the ground.<p>

Captivated, Hiccup watched how the wings tried to work, before deciding the best way to commit to memory would be to draw it. After Hiccup finished, he knew that he had missed something. The Night Fury should be able to fly away without any problem at all, yet it seemed incapable of doing so. Looking more closely, Hiccup saw that part of its tail was missing.

'Interesting,' Hiccup contemplated, 'The tail is necessary for flight…' Hiccup figured that he could try to help the beast. He had, after all, been the one to injure it to the point where it could not escape. And, from how it was now moving, it had been unable to catch any sort of food for itself.

Hiccup was equal parts terrified and fascinated. He wanted to run like Fenrir himself was chasing him, but he also wanted to get to know this odd creature that defied everything he had ever been taught about dragons. Forgetting how close he was to the edge, Hiccup accidentally moved against some loose stones, which plummeted into the spring below. Looking up at the sound, Hiccup locked eyes with the beast. He didn't see a bloodlust like he expected to see, he saw an intelligence there, but an underlying threat, like a rope about to snap.

Hiccup slowly stood up and retreated until he broke sight with the beast and then he turned and ran, ignoring the rain storm that had started. He ran, slowed down to work through a stitch in his side, and then ran all the way to the forge. He had completely forgotten that he had work to attend to there.

"Enjoying your leisurely afternoon?" Gobber asked, half annoyed, half playful as Hiccup stumbled into the stall.

"Sorry." Hiccup panted, "I got caught up in my thoughts and—"

"Say no more. Even I can't keep up with you sometimes." He chuckles, turning back to his work.

"Right…" Hiccup took his leather apron off its peg, running his hands over the worn material.

"Hiccup, I need to make some repairs to one of the family houses. You have the stall until I return."

"Alright…There really isn't much to do anyways…" Hiccup muttered, as Gobber moved off to do the repairs. A couple hours later, Hiccup finished up the long sword that he had been sharpening. There were no more current projects that needed to be done, so he decided to go and practice again, it had been a while. Grabbing the staff he trained with, he made his way to the Dragon Arena. Setting up a dummy, he warmed up a little before going through a couple of passes. He then looked up at the target, before whipping around aiming for the head.

Half an hour later, Hiccup was still hard at it. He opted to take his shirt off, as it was only restricting his movements. However, he was unaware that another was watching him…

Astrid watched Hiccup from her spot in the seats. She had never seen this before. She couldn't believe that this was Hiccup, a boy who was constantly tripping over his own shoes. But here…he was strong and more capable than any of them, maybe even her. Considering this new information, Astrid decided to go home for the night, and think over what she had seen…

"The task for today is that you all learn how to be quick on your feet." Gobber instructed, as the teens raced and weaved their way through the maze. It had been a couple days since they had started training. They had redone the Gronkle challenge until Gobber was sure that they could all survive longer than 10 minutes. Now, he was having them running through a maze, trying to avoid blasts of magnesium-enhanced fire.

"Ruffnut, Tuffnut, keep running." Gobber called out. The Deadly Nadder they were facing off against was hopping along the walls, having a superior tactical advantage to the kids on the ground.

"I find your teaching method to be quite hazardous!" Fishlegs panted, running from the creature, who flicked its tail, releasing a shower of spines from along it. His shield took several, knocking him out of the round. The twins and Snotlout quickly followed, leaving Astrid and Hiccup as the only two left.

He saw the dragon take off away from him, and he became fearful, knowing it was headed towards Astrid. Spurred into action by the sudden rush of adrenaline, he tore off, looking for a way through the maze and through sheer luck, that he swore he would never have again, he found Astrid looking up at the dragon. Both were just eyeing each other, like two, well, like two starving dragons about to fight over a yak.

The dragon flicked its tail, as Astrid moved out of the way, turning to run around a corner. It flicked its tail again, hoping to get the human in the back. But, Hiccup managed to put himself in between the two, taking the full brunt of the attack. One spine burst through the shield and sliced along Hiccup's bicep, giving him a long cut up his arm. Hiccup fell as Gobber jumped into the arena, knocking over a wall and the Nadder with it. He wrestled it back into its pen, before running to see if Hiccup was okay. Hiccup had stumbled to his feet at this point and was working his way to the Arena entrance.

He needed to, he needed to…

His world faded, falling to black, as the stone rushed to meet him.

Hiccup woke up sometime later, in his own house. The cut on his arm had been sewn shut and was covered in bandages. There was also a note from Gobber,

_Hiccup,_  
><em>Don't worry about training.<em>  
><em>You have it off while your<br>arm __heals. __Try to go on walks  
>so you don't become stiff.<em>

_Gobber_

Hiccup smiled. At least somebody cared. He tried to stand up, only to stumble slightly. He steadied himself with his left arm against the wall, letting his injured right arm hang loose against his side. Walking into the forest, he didn't know where he was going and found that his legs had brought him to the cove where he had seen the Night Fury. He saw the Night Fury and for one awful moment, he thought the beast was dead. Then he noticed the almost imperceptible rise and fall of the sides. Hiccup made a decision.

He went back to the village, grabbed a basket of fish and hauled it back to the starving creature, fighting the whole way against his wounded arm. Sitting down a few feet from the creature, he tipped over the basket of fish and sat down. The dragon looked at him warily, and he could see its internal struggle between a need to survive and a hatred of Vikings. But its need to survive trumped its hatred of humans. It edged forward, but was unable to get far. So, Hiccup grabbed one of the fish and held it up for the dragon. It edged closer, opening its mouth, revealing a mouth devoid of teeth.

"Huh, toothless. I could have sworn you had—" The Night Fury's teeth suddenly snapped up the fish, almost taking a couple of Hiccup's fingers with it. "Teeth." Hiccup finished weakly, flexing his hands to confirm that they were still there. And then a crazy idea came to him.

**A/N: Well, that took much longer than I expected. I hope you are all still coming by to read. The next chapter we will finally leave Berk and really become an AU. Hopefully, this will give you guys a taste of what is to come. A very special thank you to Gillyflower Calfuray, for kicking my butt in gear and for making this chapter awesome. Go look at her stuff, she is awesome. Again, please review. I love to see what you guys think and I love to see the ideas that you guys might want me to try. I now have two jobs, so it may be a bit until the next chapter but, hopefully not. I love all you guys who are still following this and want to see what happens! YW20, Signing off.**


	5. Trust and Betrayal

It had been two months now and Hiccup had fallen into a regular pattern. In the mornings he would wake up and half-heartedly join the others in dragon fighting. He had drastically improved in almost all areas, but only showed what he wanted people to see of his new-found strength. Even so, he quickly became the top student.

Then, in the afternoons, he went to study with the Night Fury, which Hiccup had taken to calling Toothless. He had been learning so much from Toothless that he had never known before. And, he had discovered that dragons could feel and react, just as the Vikings could. This made them seem more and more like people. They could think, they could learn, they adapted.

The biggest example of this was that he and Toothless had become friends….somewhat. He didn't quite understand it. But, he seemed to have gained some trust from Toothless. Hiccup had taken careful sketches and measurements of the dragon's tail, and with supplies he borrowed from Gobber's forge he created an artificial tailfin to replace the one torn off in battle. The only thing that he had neglected to include in his month of development was some form of control, so that Toothless could change direction and gain elevation on his own. Hiccup realized that he would have to learn how to hook the tail to a saddle of some kind, so that he could ride on the dragon and change the fin for him.

His first test flight had been extremely rough, but he learned so much about dragons in that one experience. He figured out that he would need to move his foot in the stirrup the way that Toothless needed to point his tail, in order to keep the dragon in flight. It was more of an instinctual motion, instead of a prescribed action driven by a chart. After that flight, he and his new friend found themselves resting on a small outcropping of rock in the sea, with Toothless happily devouring a fish he had caught. The scent of food brought a group of Terrible Terrors, which fiercely ganged up on the Night Fury for a share. The larger dragon held his ground, even shooting a burst of plasma into the gaping mouth of a tiny intruder. "Not so fireproof on the inside, are you?" Hiccup chuckled, tossing it a few scraps. The little one, contented, proceeded to curl up against the Viking's leg and settle down to sleep. Hiccup gently rubbed its scaly hide, amazed at how wrong everything he had known about dragons was.

And now he was finishing one of the final tests of Dragon Training. The goal of this was to at least try and take down a Gronkle, without getting killed. Only he and Astrid were left, and that surprised a lot of people. Not that Astrid was left, but that Hiccup was still alive. Hiccup jumped out into the open, only to have to dive back into to cover to avoid the incoming fireball. This landed him next to Astrid, who rounded on him and hissed, "This one is mine." She moved off, ducking behind cover again and again. Hiccup charged right up the middle, drawing the Gronkle away from Astrid, before scratching below its chin, effectively bringing the beast down. He heard both the crowd, roaring its approval, and Astrid, bellowing curses as she swung her axe in frustration. Hiccup tried to sneak off but Gobber caught him.

"Oh, no you don't." Gobber said, pulling him and Astrid, who was still giving him the evil eye, to stand in front of the Elder of Berk, Gothi. She was an old woman, the oldest Viking on the island. She was the only person who was a smart as Hiccup. Unfortunately, as smart as she was, she had long ago lost her voice, forced instead to draw her pictures on the ground for others to interpret.

"Gothi, these two have proven themselves the most worthy. Who shall be allowed to fight the Monstrous Nightmare?" Gobber asked, as the entire arena was covered with a blanket of silence, as everyone awaited her decision.

She looked at them both for several long minutes before drawing something on the ground. Gobber, one the only ones who could interpret these drawings, looked at what she had drawn. "A cup?" He asked her, to which she smacked him on the back of the head. "Ow…oh!" Gobber exclaimed, the realization hitting him like a mace to the face. "I present, this year's dragon fighter…Hiccup!" A cheer went up through the crowd, Gobber was smiling, and Astrid looked ready to murder him, heir status be damned. And all Hiccup could feel was a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Later, Gothi found Hiccup outside her door, looking troubled. "Gothi, I need advice on a matter." Gothi looked at him inquisitively, waiting for Hiccup to explain, "Well, the thing is…why you choose me? Astrid and—and, Hel, even Fishlegs would to better than I would. Why me?" The elder looked at him for a long moment, seeming to contemplate why, in fact, she had chosen him. Then she took her staff and drew a few symbols in the ground.

"You…want…eat?" Hiccup read confused at what she was drawing, earning him a quick blow to the shoulder. Hiccup looked closer, "Oh. You want…peace." He looked back at Gothi, "How did you know?" Gothi began to walk, and Hiccup followed her. She didn't walk very fast as she was so much shorter than Hiccup, so he allowed himself to dawdle and cast his gaze around the forest as they moved.

Only when they had stopped did he realize that they were at the cove. Looking panicked, he looked down at Gothi, who was smiling up at him. "You saw me here?" He asked, terrified that others had seen him too. She nodded, before writing in the sand again. "I…am…the only…one…to… see you." Hiccup read, feeling relieved that she hadn't told anyone else. Unfortunately, someone else had just found out.

"Hey Hiccup. What are you and the elder doing out here?"

"Astrid—! Astrid. Hi, Astrid." Hiccup said, whirling around to see the blonde standing behind them. "What are you doing out here? And what is this thing that only the elder has seen you do?" Hiccup wished that he could rewind time, and stop the calamity about to happen. But it only got worse as Toothless bounded out, ready to greet him, and became immediately defensive when he saw Astrid and her axe. Seeing this, Hiccup put himself between Toothless and Astrid, hoping that they could settle their differences without recourse to violence.

**(A/N: Forgive my laziness here, but you guys know this part goes)**

"Let me show you."

"Toothless, Toothless we need her to like us."

"It's like a giant nest, and that's the Queen. We need to tell your father."

"No."

"Are you going to keep this a secret so you can protect him?"

"Yes."

"Oh. So what are you going to do?"

"I don't know."

"That's for kidnapping me…and that. Is for, everything else."

The next morning came, and Hiccup couldn't believe where he was and what had happened. He had found and befriended a dragon, gotten to the top of the Dragon "Training" Academy, and Astrid had just kissed him the other night. But today, he had to do the impossible. He had to kill a dragon in the arena, in front of the entire village. Not only that, he would be facing off against an enraged dragon, that he would have little hope of training so quickly. He needed a plan and quick…

"You got a plan?" Astrid asked from behind him. Hiccup looked back, and sighed heavily, "Yeah I do."

Before Astrid could ask what it was, Gobber opened the gate, "There you go, Hiccup. Knock 'em dead."

Hiccup stepped inside as the gate closed behind him and he went to the weapons rack, taking a shield and a dagger. "I'm ready." He called out. The door opened and, a Monstrous Nightmare burst forth, already engulfed in flames. Stunned momentarily, Hiccup remembered his plan, dropped the shield and dagger, and sticking his pinkies in his mouth, he let out two piercing whistles. All the Vikings covered their ears at the noise, and even the dragon seemed mildly dazed at the sudden piercing noise. It recovered quickly however and began trying to fry him. Hiccup dodged left, before bolting to the side. Now he just had to wait.

Not a minute later, Toothless showed up, blasting a hole in the metal cage that encompassed the arena. The blast had the additional advantage of raising a cloud of smoke. "Good job bud, now free the other dragons." Toothless' aim was impeccable, but now Vikings had recovered and were spilling out into the arena to contain the madness that had erupted there. "The gate, Toothless," Hiccup whispered urgently. Not missing a beat, Toothless looked behind him and blasted the gate right off its hinges. "GO GO GO!" Hiccup yelled, hoping the dragons would understand. Thankfully, they did. They all jetted out of the arena.

Now 25 feet above the arena, Hiccup looked back, looking for Astrid, ready to apologize but only saw his father, as he yelled. "YOU'RE NOT A VIKING! YOU'RE NOT MY SON!" Hiccup slumped in the saddle, "Let's go, Bud." He and Toothless flew off, their destination unknown, but suffice to say that it would be anywhere but here. As he flew he remembered a rhyme he had once written that suited this situation

_Tún stija eptir, inn jǫrð stija framar_

Hiccup looked back, Berk now just a speck on the horizon.

_Margr leið við troða stija hér_

_Um myrkr, við inn elding_

_Fyrir inn stiarna þola til ljós_

_þoka eða myrkr, sky eða hlíf_

The sky above Hiccup darkened as the rains came in, and Toothless was forced into a nearby cave.

_Allr skulu fǫlna_

Toothless did not understand what had happened earlier that Hiccup had wanted to leave, but he knew enough to know that his rider and friend was grieving. He curled himself around Hiccup, encasing him in a natural enclosure of heat.

_Allr skulu_

Hiccup closed his eyes and silently wept, scared out of his mind about what was and what would become, before sleep claimed him.

_Fǫlna_

**(A/N: Sorry, there was a previous upload that was bugged by HTML text. This is the real upload. That said, A huge shout out to those of you who are still reading. And a personal thank you to Authoress Liz, who helped so much by editing and writing parts of this story. Go check out her work. Alright, a challenge to all of you who think you can do it. Translate the song that Hiccup wrote. Thank you again to everyone who reads and please review, all of this helps immensely. This is YW20, signing off.)**


	6. 5 Years Later

~*~ Five years later ~*~

"Alright, Stormfly, let's finish up our patrol and head back."

'Squawk!'

It has been five years, five long years since Hiccup left. Five long years that Astrid has had to think about everything that has happened in her life and what it is to become now. In those in-between years, so much has happened and changed in Berk that, sometimes, she can't remember the old Berk. This was what Hiccup would have wanted, what he believed could be possible. Now, there was only one piece missing. Hiccup himself. They had heard nothing about a Night Fury from any of the other islands, much less a boy riding a Night Fury.

Astrid knew that Stoic was taking it worse than all of them. He carried a flask of mead with him everywhere, and she had sometimes witnessed the chief breaking down when he believed he was alone. He had prayed to every god, wishing for his son's safe return and that he should be struck down for being a terrible father and husband, both his son and wife taken by dragons.

But, life in the village kept going, even if it did feel gray and lifeless now. With Hiccup gone, the throne would go to the next of kin. As Stoic had no other family, he had to pick a new successor. Unfortunately, this means that it comes down to Astrid and Snotlout. Snotlout never liked it, and had continued to flirt with her, sometimes trying to corner her when he had drunk too much mead.

She intended to leave while she still could. To get away and find Hiccup. She didn't know how or where or even if she would find him. But she knew that only the Day of Ragnarok would keep her from finding him. She had been thinking about Hiccup and her living together. While 5 years ago she would deny it, even to herself, but she had always had something of a soft spot for Hiccup. Seeing him in the arena had brought it to the forefront of her mind. He may have been small, but she had felt an inner strength exuding from him. In spite of all the teasing and name calling, and sometimes, beatings, he still stood strong and took everything in stride. Astrid doubted that she could have done that.

Reaching level ground again, she dismounted and went to Stoick's hut. Knocking politely, she was greeted with a muted, "Enter." She went inside and was greeted by Stoick, trying to look strong, before he saw it was Astrid, and his face fell back to how he actually felt. Loss, hurt, depression, and pain all radiated out from him.

"Yes, Astrid?"

"I want to try to find Hiccup."

"Astrid…We have looked and looked, but we haven't found hide nor hair of Hiccup, or his dragon."

"Because we have only looked around the other islands!"

Stoick suddenly slammed his meaty hands on the table, almost breaking it, as he stood with enough force to knock over the chair,"Where else could he have gone?!" Scared, but unwilling to show any break in her resolve, Astrid fired back "To places that we haven't explored yet!"

"And where do you suppose he went then?"

Astrid stopped, her mind coming up blank. She didn't know where he was. But looking at Stoick, she could see that, mixed in with his anger and acceptance, there was a hope there, hope that Hiccup was still alive and okay, that Stoick could see him just once more. She had seen him wear that expression before, a look of pain that spoke of a cruelty that had been repeated twice too often.

While the entire village had taken to the idea of dragons helping them, Stoick still had his doubts about dragons. Everyone agreed that they were good now, but no one could blame him. His wife taken, he had disowned his son. All over dragons.

"I don't know for certain where he could be, but I can still look. It's better than just sitting her doing nothing."

"And you think that I have done nothing?" Stoick's voice had dropped to a much quieter, but much more threatening tone, daring her to challenge him. "I meant no disrespect." Astrid said, knowing she had pushed too far and trying to back track.

Stoick looked livid, before he seemed to calm himself. "Of course you did not, Astrid…" He apologized. He couldn't believe that he had almost lost his temper. "You wanted my permission to find Hiccup?"

"Yes, Chief."

"Do you have a plan of where you want to look?"

"It isn't any great secret that as clumsy as Hiccup was, he was also much smarter than us. I believe that he would have gone to the far north."

"He was always smarter than us, that's true. But why do you think the far north? Wouldn't he freeze?"

"Not with the Night Fury he has."

"Alright. If you think that he is living, somehow, in the far north, I give you permission to look for him."

Astrid smiled, her first real smile in a long time. "Thank you!"

She rushed home, hoping to leave as soon as possible. Even though she was using this as an excuse to leave, she could not deny that she wanted to find Hiccup as well. Over the years, she had found herself missing him more and more, to a point where she often had dreams about him. They were all strange too. They consisted of Hiccup, Toothless, large ice structures, and a mysterious 4-winged dragon.

The next morning, she left Berk, heading north, for the first hour she looking everywhere around her. But as the day dragged on, she relaxed into the saddle, knowing that she would be out here for weeks, looking for Hiccup. Landing on one of the glaciers, she settled down for the night. She would find him. That was a heita that she would keep.

After a week of searching, she experienced a sense of déjà vu. A giant glacier of greenish ice stuck out, and looking closer she saw that there were two dragons circling in the skies above and on their backs, were riders. Feeling elated, she moved Stormfly closer, wanting to say hi.

That was when she saw that the two riders were fighting. One jumped on the other, pulling him off his dragon. The larger, riderless dragon seemed to just turn tail and fly away. The two riders landed on the ice below. Astrid was now close enough to see that one was Dagur the Deranged, the head of the Berserkers. The other had a helmet on, disguising himself. Knowing the threat that Dagur posed to anyone, she decided she needed to step in and help this person.

"Stormfly!" She said to the dragon, patting the base of the tail. Stormfly squawked in acknowledgement, shooting her spines so that Dagur was trapped. Both men were struggling to their feet, wanting to be the first one up. Astrid landed, not trusting either, but more willing to trust the stranger than Dagur.

"You can't protect them forever. I will get them." Dagur said, before whistling and calling a Skrill to him. Mounting it, he took off.

"That was brave on your part."

Astrid rounded on the other man, still feeling defensive.

"…Astrid?..."

"How do you know me?"

The man took off his helmet, showing his longer brown hair, a thin but well-formed face, and bright green eyes. Before she even knew what she was doing, she had dropped her axe and was running forward. Bringing both arms up, she looked him in the eye…and socked him in the shoulder.

"That's for leaving without saying anything, and staying away for 5 years."

She then pulled him into a bone crushing hug.

"That's for me being able to find you again."

**(A/N: Hello everyone who is still reading up to this point. Thank you so much for doing so. Now, I had an idea to write what happens in the 5 year timeskip. Unfortunately, I did not put it here as it will take time, lots of time to write. However, if you would like to see it please either leave a comment saying that you want to see it or send me a message saying you want to see it. I love all you guys and gals who are still reading this, you guys are why I continue writing. Next Chapter, we meet Hiccup's posse. This is YW20, signing off.)**


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